Man Candy Monday (NSFW)

Filament, the magazine believing ‘women have brains and are visual’, are struggling to get it up. After a muchpublicised and hugelysuccessful launch in June, Filament, in response to reader demand, had planned to include photos of guys with erections in their second issue (September). Their printers, however, have refused.

If it were as simple as finding another printer, Filament would have done so. Unfortunately, printers willing to challenge the taboos surrounding hard cock are charging prices beyond the reach of a new, small publisher. If that weren’t bad enough, Filament have been turned down by numerous UK distributors, all refusing to handle a women’s magazine featuring – OMG! – a guy on the cover.

Please buy Filament! Issue 1 is available now and issue 2, out next month, will feature a cracking article from Erotica Cover Watch. A piece on sexy texting will include several messages I’ve received but hopefully anonymously or I’ll be blushing all the way to issue 3. An article on male burlesque performers promises to be mighty interesting too. Will there be hard cock? We don’t yet know. But what’s clear is the more women who show they want sexy images of horny men by subscribing to the mag, the more likely this will happen.

17 Responses

Additional (in this case unsolicited, transatlantic) suggestion: If in the UK, take every opportunity to ask merchants who sell magazines if they have Filament. When they say no, ask if they can get it. Perhaps you’ll get an “I’ll ask my distributor” … and perhaps if the distribs get enough requests, they’ll reconsider?

Actually I don’t think Filament are trying to print pictures like this one Mathilde. Suraya (the Ed) told me that they wanted to go for “erections shown through clothing, through frosted glass, through bedding etc”. Which sounds fairly subtle and inoffensive, doesn’t it? Unless you’re a British printer, clearly. *sigh*

Janine, the particular set I want to put in Filament 2 is actually quite er – clear and present, as it were! I was surprised to get a set at this early stage that was so exceptionally well done and also, to the point. It seems that the photographers at least are up to the female gaze challenge, pity about the printers!

[…] “Huh? What?” right now, then that’s good. For the whole story, check out what Kristina Lloyd has to say over at Erotica Cover Watch (which, I should add, features a sexy, oh-my-god very naked boy, so you know, if you don’t […]

Oh, and also, Tempest Bradford, a US fantasy writer recently spoke up about Realms of Fantasy Magazine’s gender imbalance in their cheesecake covers. And, you guessed it, it set off a shit storm. Check it out:http://tempest.fluidartist.com/realms-of-covers/

*To afford to change to a printer who’ll print erections, we need to sell 328 more copies. Help us here – http://tinyurl.com/ohq3q8*

328? That is jack shit! I’m sure we can do this.

I once worked on a porn mag in the UK who also did editorial for US publications. One of my jobs was to sort pics from photoshoots into UK and US piles. UK, obviously, got soft cock and semis while US pics went on my happy pile. It’s not illegal to show hard cock in the UK but the law is vague. And, according to Suraya, while the law hasn’t changed in decades, interpretation of it has – and it’s ongoing.

Licensed sex shops can offer publications w/ erections, no worries. But your average newsagent, happy to sell top shelf mags featuring spread-legged women, are likely to balk at erections. And anyway, adult mags, operating a safe self-censorship policy, aren’t trying to get hard-ons in newsagents. Why would they bother? Beaver-shots sell well enough.

It would be so amazing if the UK’s woolly obscenity laws were put to the test by a magazine printing erections – in response to the demands of its female readers!

328? Tiny! Remember, Filament will post to anywhere in the world. Please spread the word. And buy now!

[…] Yesterday (NSFW!), we drew attention to Filament’s struggle to get hard-ons into print. Huh? And this is what century? Today, we’re a step closer to seeing hard-ons happen. Filament now need just over 300 people to buy issue 1, enabling them to afford a printer who doesn’t have the willies about wang. […]

This was the pic that made me blush (forgot where I saw it when I commented at F-Word) but it’s a beautifully posed and artistically presented photo. I’m not sure I’d buy ‘Filament’ on a regular basis just because of things like this, subtle or not… I’m more a ‘Scarlet’ fan by comparison (sorry) but I applaud the thinking and respect behind it.🙂

One of the more interesting things in the exchange with Tempest Bradford was two women’s comments insisting that women are beautiful, men are ugly:

Especially ironic that their posts were linked to from this thread, featuring a picture of a classically beautiful male nude. Nope, no male beauty there. Nothing aesthetically or visually pleasing in the young, taut belly or the sweep of his neck or the lushness of the pubes or the thick cock or the strong pecs and arms and shoulders … okay, sorry, getting distracted here.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, of course. But I find it strange when self-described heterosexual women insist that of course they’re not physically attracted to men, because who in their right mind would be? Women are Above Such Things. Women are the consumed, not the consumers.

Disclaimer

Erotica publishing is a small world and we do worry about our fellow smutters. That's why we want you to know that if we snark about your covers we don't hate you. It's not aimed at you personally. But we are trying to change the world here. And if you stand in our way you might get hurt. And not in that kinky way you like.